According to the article below, a valuable technique for detecting lies is being with held from Troops doing interrogations. I have to wonder -Why hasn't anyone run this on our fearless leader's speechs and press conference responses? How about using this with ALL major figures? Have a scroll along the bottom of your TV screen..... Seems like an ideal application of this valued technology. Could Democracy survive if leaders were actually tested to see if they were telling the truth?
From The American Spectator (of all places):
http://www.spectator.org/...
Nothing But The Truth
By David Holman
Published 12/15/2005 12:07:30 AM
"There is a little known device used in interrogations in police departments throughout the country. The examiner attaches to the subject a microphone, which is connected to a laptop computer with special software. During the interrogation, the examiner charts on the computer the voice pattern of each answer. By the analyzing the patterns, the examiner can learn on which answers the subject was likely deceptive. ............."
"Seeking greater versatility in the field than the polygraph, retired Army officers developed voice stress analysis technology in the 1960s and 1970s. Like the polygraph, the newer Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA) is based on the theory that a subject will exhibit stress when he's deceptive. But proponents of the CVSA claim that it's a more reliable truth verification system. With the cost of purchase and training at thousands of dollars less than the polygraph, it's used by more than 1,000 domestic law enforcement agencies.
With the onset of the War on Terror and the high demand for quality intelligence and frequent interrogations, some military units desire access to this tool that their civilian counterparts so widely tout. The manufacturer of the CVSA, the National Institute for Truth Verification, is only too happy to oblige as it aggressively seeks new federal and military markets. A demand and a supply -- simple enough, right?
..................While it's tarred as scientifically unproven and opposed by the Pentagon bureaucracy, two things are clear: cops stateside love it, and troops want it. From the Polygraph Institute to the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Stephen A. Cambone, the Department of Defense is denying our very best the equipment they want to pursue the War on Terror. Is a Pentagon turf war preventing troops from being better prepared?
..............A July 2003 Washington Times story detailed the perils of inadequate interrogation equipment, reporting that Saddam Hussein loyalists were thwarting polygraphs. In one reported case, the polygraph did not catch a detainee blatantly lying to interrogators about his involvement in weapons programs because he had been trained in countermeasures by the old Special Security Organization.
...............While military experience with the CVSA is limited, those who use it say it works. NITV exhibited dozens of letters of appreciation for the equipment from hundreds of law enforcement agencies. Agencies contacted by TAS shared this enthusiasm, touting the CVSA as a valuable tool. Detective Peter Rago, of the Schaumburg Police Department in Illinois, said the CVSA has been "extremely valuable." Rago pointed to difficulties with the polygraph, including its high rate of inconclusive results and a lack of certified examiners in Illinois law enforcement. Detective Corporal Jeanne Landis of the Flathead County (Montana) Sheriff's Office and Detective Bill Case, of the Reading (Pennsylvania) Police Department, echoed Rago's success. Case mentioned its value in eliciting a recent confession from a man who raped his own stepdaughter. "I haven't had anything where a person showed deceptive and then was exonerated or was found to be innocent," Case said.
DESPITE THESE SUCCESSES domestically and abroad, there is skepticism in the scientific community concerning the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer. Critics, including those within the Department of Defense, dismiss the CVSA as scientifically unproven. Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone justified his decision to bar DoD use of the equipment in a letter last year to Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), citing studies that "...concluded there was little or no evidence, scientific or otherwise, for the applications of voice stress analysis...."
....................much more questioning how useful this really is......
David Holman is a reporter for The American Spectator. "